Chickens in a box

At last! I've finally had a go. It's been on my hit list of things to do before I die along with riding a beautiful horse along a beach and drinking a very dry martini in New York. One down, two to go! Such a good laugh, Sonya and Lucy very kindly let me join their lesson and after 10 minutes feeling a bit of a wally on 'Woody' trying to work out how on earth to swing the polo stick it was on to Larry and trying the same on a real horse. It's a bit like hockey on horseback - great fun and utterly different from 'normal' riding, all the rules go out of the window which suited me down to the ground (I've always been rubbish at being disciplined at dressage/schooling) and although hitting the ball was almost impossible, I did have great fun bombing up and down the arena missing it. Poor Larry, he must have despaired, but at least I didn't hit him on the head. Can see myself getting seriously addicted to polo - watch this space! In the meantime I'm h...

Another Christmas, another baby. Happy times with James' christening swiftly followed by Christmas Day itself. A houseful of people, rubbish on the box, too much to eat and drink and a mountain of presents. Perfect.

Check out Will in his snowman outfit for the Little Sods carol concert! In the midst of all the festivities, the grown-ups have realised we're out for the next 3 nights on the trot, a first since William was born. I am going to be on my last legs by Christmas Day....

Interesting moves afoot on the War on Warts. The Warts thought they were ahead of the game, infesting both Will's hands and taking hold. Then to add to his woes he managed to contract Melloscum on his knees and upper thighs where his eczema is worst. Between the melloscum and the warts, Will has recently been just a sea of lumps. Honestly, just when you think things can't possibly get any worse! HOWEVER, it looks as though Will's immune system is finally retaliating and the Warts are retreating en masse. The fleshy lumps are shrivelling into submission and Eddie and I are desperately hoping that the battle will be lost and William will triumph. On the melloscum front, furious scratching is also proving to be a useful combat strategy as it helps the immune system recognise that the lumps have no right to be there and should be destroyed immediately. Go Will - Seek and DESTROY.

After gritting our teeth over the past two days, we finally got to the stage where we felt James should go back to hospital last night when he took just 1 oz at 5pm, threw up 2 more at 7pm and proceeded to scream horribly for the rest of the evening. It was like he was starving but unable to feed and finally he ran out of steam and went terrifyingly quiet, still and pale. We called Basingstoke who agreed he should be looked at but not by them as they had no room. G.R.E.A.T. So over to A&E in good old Reading we went at 00.30 this morning. It was horrible actually because I haven't been back to A&E since Mummy was taken ill and to make matters worse they put James in the same booth. I snatched him up and asked to move and they were very understanding and let us go somewhere else. After 3 hours of being poked and prodded by a variety of students, SHOs, Registrars etc, we were finally admitted to the ward at 4.30am and they were about to put a tube into James to get him to fee...

James has got his scream back! I NEVER thought I'd be relieved to say that :) He's still drinking almost nothing, I'm lucky if I can get 1 - 2 ozs down him at a time, but it's better than nothing and he's definitely getting better slowly so I'm taking each day as it comes. Otherwise feeling utterly exhausted what with all the preparations for Christmas, trying to keep Will amused and looking after poor little James. I always think Christmas is going to be a wonderful time where I'll sit back, sip my champagne and relax. Yeah right.

Back on the beat, this time trying to help James get through the most hideous chesty cough which is apparantly known as 'bronchiolitis'. After two days of drinking virtually nothing the Dr sent us to Basinstoke Hospital to be looked at. At 5pm I couldn't get hold of Eddie so Godfather Richard stepped into the breach and belted off to Little Sods to collect Will while I headed off to Charlie's Day Unit (yet again). The upshot of it all isn't brilliantly helpful. Because it's a virus James just has to get through it, but the issue is around his fluid intake as he's hardly been taking any milk. They were on the verge of sticking a tube down his nose and force-feeding him but fortunately he decided that sounded much worse than taking voluntary action and managed to get down a whopping 70 mls and was allowed home. Now all we can do is wait, keep his room humid (wet towel in position on radiator) and stuff saline down his nose before each feed to help him breathe....

Took James and Will for a walk yesterday in the blistering cold, but it was a lovely sunny afternoon and we were wrapped up to the nines after much bellyaching from both at being stuffed into pram suit/fleece respectively. Will was wearing his much loved boots and the concept of getting them muddy was initially appealing...until they actually did, at which all hell broke loose annd Will decided he was inconsolable at the soiling of his favourite footwear. Typically he chose to melt down in the middle of a field of about 10 horses. I'd checked it out beforehand and decided they were far enough away for us to scoot across without causing too much disruption. Unfortunately by the time Will had kicked off the offending boots, I'd replaced them, he'd screamed blue murder at walking through anymore mud and been tucked under my arm, the horses decided to say hello and came thundering towards us at full gallop. I haven't run so fast since the infamous 'Dobbin' incide...

The house is still a total mess, but the end is in sight and we're hoping to have the dining room in operation ready for Christmas Day rather than the sitting room as there have been all sorts of altercations with the fitting of the new fireplace which I won't drone on about here. Eddie and I are at the very end of our endurance when it comes to mess and there is going to be a serious cull of clutter over the next week or so. We're terrible horders but there comes a time when you have to be ruthless. Will is very excited about Christmas although having terrible trouble actually trying to say it. It comes out something along the lines of 'Sithimuths'. He has no idea what either it, or presents, are, but is obviously desperate to find out. In the meantime his absolutely favourite thing at the moment is The Most Annoying Christmas Card Ever, sent by his Uncle Lowly. It's a Father Christmas who which plays Jingle Bells while his nose and buttons flash. We have to li...

They say that boys start later than girls, but William may be the exception. He's a very proprietorial little boy, everything's 'his'; 'my Rabbit', 'my bootsies' even 'my Raynes' (his James) and now we have 'my potty'. Eddie is very patient, much more so than me (although in my defence it's usually because I'm wiping something revolting off James most of the time) and will spend ages reading to Will while he sits on the potty until something happens. But it's definitely having an effect because now William voluntarily produces the potty for either he or Rabbit to sit on and even if they don't do anything it's definitely progress. He clearly doesn't like wearing his nappy, and although I wonder whether he doesn't primarily associate sitting on it with getting his favourite story ready to him (invariably The Gruffalo, which he loves), gradually the penny is beginning to drop. Wouldn't it be fantastic if cr...

You'd have thought I'd know how to spell it by now :(

It's back. Well, not that it ever went away - Will's elbows and knees still flare up from time to time - but I'm sorry to say that it looks as though James is going to have it too. The left side of his cheek has been getting steadily more sore, and although I've been trying to write it off as a milk rash, I can't live in denial anymore. It's definitely ezcema. I suppose the only comfort I can take this time round is that I have the benefit of hindsight and I know what to do. Let's just hope it doesn't spread as badly as Will's did. In the meantime I've stocked up on Aveeno and will keep slathering it on as long as I need to. Big Brother, meanwhile, is still totally bunged up. He woke last night absolutely baking hot with a temperature nearing 39C. After being swiftly removed from his bag, stripped down, sponged off and syringed with 5mls Calpol order was restored, thank heavens. Get me - Nurse Houghton!

The only way to spend a miserable, dark, windy, rain-soaked Sunday. Unfortunately poor Will has woken up with a hideous cold and is streaming with it. Have re-stocked our already overflowing medicine cabinet with yet more Karvol as well as Tixylix, which I'm assured is a miracle cure for chesty coughs. Here's hoping!

James and I hit the Big Smoke to say hello to his favourite girlfriend Izzy. A great time had by all and credit to the babies for superb co-ordination so that when one was screaming the other took a breather and vice versa. James surpassed himself by reaching his peak just we were about to tuck into lunch, while Izzy wangled her way out of the cot and into her bouncy chair so she could natter to Mummy and Louisa - much more fun!